[Zombie01]

Will a Phenom x4 955 BE OC'd to 3.8Ghz bottleneck crossfire 6950's? I'm hoping to push 4Ghz when I actually sit down and play with it.

If so, what AMD processor would you recommend as to not bottleneck both gpu's as well as perform well while gaming?

The reason I'm wanting to stick with AMD is because the cpu block I have I bought around my AMD chip and the only intel socket it doesn't support is 1155 , which is what I'd want if I went with an Intel chip.

If there is no other alternative then to get an Intel (2500K preferred ) then I'll have to take that into consideration. But if at all possible I'd like to stick with AM3 to keep all current working hardware.

[EarthDog]

Im going to tread lightly here as I am aware this is in the AMD section... please hear me out though...

Performance with that AMD will be absolutely fine at 3.8Ghz or above. However, jumping to that intel platform will really let those cards stretch its legs. Of course this also depends on the resolution you play at. I assume with such powerful cards you are at 2560x1600 or multi monitor...correct?

[Zombie01]

Right now, no. Just a single monitor at the 1900 res (I forget the exact one...doh!) But the idea is to pop 2 more on there WHEN I do go crossfire.

[K93George]

Regarding AMD CPUs in general, you are given many different parameters that can be O.C, one which comes to mind when I think about the CPU affecting components around it, is the HT Link, you can O.C your HT Link if you like, this essentially increases available bandwitdh to other components, such as the memory and GPUs.

Keep in mind that this is quite an odd part of the CPU, it can lead to decreased performance if pushed too far (not sure why, but AMD acknowledges this), so besides doing the usual stability test after a small increase of the HT Link to check for stability, make sure to benchmark your system as well, see if you get better performance.

Note: Once performance starts to drop or does not increase, please stop O.C your HT Link, it will do nothing good for your performance and is not worth the extra stress on the CPU.

[trents]

Originally Posted by K93George

Regarding AMD CPUs in general, you are given many different parameters that can be O.C, one which comes to mind when I think about the CPU affecting components around it, is the HT Link, you can O.C your HT Link if you like, this essentially increases available bandwitdh to other components, such as the memory and GPUs.

Keep in mind that this is quite an odd part of the CPU, it can lead to decreased performance if pushed too far (not sure why, but AMD acknowledges this), so besides doing the usual stability test after a small increase of the HT Link to check for stability, make sure to benchmark your system as well, see if you get better performance.

Note: Once performance starts to drop or does not increase, please stop O.C your HT Link, it will do nothing good for your performance and is not worth the extra stress on the CPU.

The HT Link on Phenoms and Phenom IIs up through the X4s will not take much overclocking before it creates instability. That's why we caution people with those CPUs to keep it at or slightly below the stock 2000 mhz when overclocking. Unlike the CPU-NB It will not handle speeds much above stock. It's a different story with the Thuban core X6's however. They like to have the HT Link rise in concert with the CPU-NB when overclocking.

[trents]

If you have two monitors or can borrow one for a bit you can check if the CPU is bottlenecking the GPU by having Taskmanager's resource meter open on the other display while you are gaming.

[Zombie01]

Originally Posted by trents

If you have two monitors or can borrow one for a bit you can check if the CPU is bottlenecking the GPU by having Taskmanager's resource meter open on the other display while you are gaming.

I've never heard of this before. What would I be looking for to determine this?

[EarthDog]

100% CPU usage.

[Zombie01]

Oh OK. Thought this might have been a more complex thing to look at

[trents]

It displays live CPU and memory usage in a bar graph. Simultaneously press the "Ctrl" "Alt" and "Delete" keys. A menu will appear. Choose "Task Manager". Then choose the 'Performance" tab. The challenge comes in when gaming in that games take over the whole desktop and the performance meters would become obscured. That's why you need dual monitors.